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Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: “Coco” arrives in theaters on November 22nd. With that in mind, we asked our panel of critics to name their favorite Pixar movie. In a testament to the studio’s work, all seven of the critics who participated in this survey highlighted different films.

Read More:‘Coco’ Review: Pixar’s Latest Proves That the Studio Still Has Some Life in its Bones Christy Lemire, @christylemire, RogerEbert.com/What the Flick?!

For a long time I would have said “Wall-e,” just because it’s so audacious: It’s about a lonely garbage collector in space, and the first 15 minutes of it are wordless. The fact that

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

I don’t know about “best” — I haven’t seen an embarrassing chunk of what are considered her most significant roles, and I’m weak on understanding acting — but the performance that sticks most in my mind (quite possibly because I saw it at impressionable high school age) is “Dogville.” Kidman is spookily withdrawn, like an observer alien in a human body dropped into a moral wasteland which she attempts to navigate with understanding and decorum until finally it’s just too much. As in “Birth,

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

The greatest Tom Cruise performance of all time happened on Oprah’s couch in 2005. But in the movies? “Magnolia.” It’s the best, but it’s also the “most” Cruise performance. His batshit insanity just barely holds together the fragile insecurity of the man beneath the horndog motivation speaker.

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: What is the best performance in an otherwise bad movie?

Joshua Rothkopf (@joshrothkopf), Time Out New York

There’s a Cult of Val (Kilmer, obviously) that I proudly belong to. Mainly it revolves around movies like “Real Genius,” “Top Secret!” and “Heat,” all excellent movies that don’t fit the parameters of this question. But you really don’t know Val until you’ve made your peace with Oliver Stone’s beyond-awful “The Doors.” The apocryphal anecdotes around Kilmer’s deep dive into Jim Morrison are insane: insisting that no one look him in the eye on set, wearing the same leather pants for months,

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

A recent article (based on a very unscientific poll) argued that millennials don’t really care about old movies. Maybe that’s true, and maybe it isn’t, but the fact remains that many people disregard classic cinema on principle. These people are missing out, but it only takes one film — the right film — to change their minds and forever alter their viewing habits.

This week’s question: What is one classic film you would recommend to someone who doesn’t watch them?

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday.

This week’s question: “The Book of Henry” has been assailed by critics. But let’s look beyond this particular reviled new release. What’s the worst movie you’ve ever reviewed?

Alissa Wilkinson (@alissamarie), Vox

It’s unfortunately not even a contest: “God’s Not Dead 2,” which I reviewed for Flavorwire and then wrote about it further for Thrillist. (The first movie is actually far worse, but I didn’t review it.) They’re actually not the worst-made movies I’ve seen, but as a Christian and a film critic, I find them so actively offensive and cynical that it’s somehow even more depressing. I didn’t derive any joy from the process, but it felt important that I write about it.

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film and TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: Inspired by Baby Groot’s “Mr. Blue Sky” dance sequence at the beginning of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” what movie has the best opening credits sequence?

April Wolfe (@awolfeful), La Weekly

Hands down, it’s R.W. Fassbinder’s “The Marriage of Maria Braun.” I watch the opening sequence at least three times a year and show it to every filmmaker I can. I love any film that begins with a bang, and this one does quite literally: We open up on an explosion that rips out a hunk of brick wall, exposing a German couple in the middle of a rushed marriage ceremony.

The jury is still out on how Western parody “The Ridiculous 6” will rank, but click through to see the worst reviewed comedies Adam Sandler took the lead in. “Sandy Wexler” Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 33 percent “There’s no way to recommend it, yet I wouldn’t ask for my two hours back (though I do wish that they could have been sped up somewhat)” New Yorker critic Richard Brody wrote. “Little Nicky” Critic Approval Rating: 22 percent “Like spending 84 minutes in Hell,” critic Christy Lemire wrote when it hit theaters in 2000. “That’s My Boy” Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 20 percent “Vulgar, trite,

Film criticism’s demise has been eulogized by endless film festival panelists — mostly male, mostly white. Yet, that waning power still goes largely unshared with women (and people of color).

“Film criticism is in the exact same position as latenight talkshow hosts,” says B. Ruby Rich, Uc Santa Cruz professor of film and digital media. “The hiring of Stephanie Zacharek at Time is positive. Manohla Dargis reviews for the New York Times and Ann Hornaday is at the Washington Post. And, yet, female critics who barely got a toe-hold anyway are often the last hired, first fired.”

It could be possible that “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” really is a “massive waste of time and money” and “worse than the worst movie you’ve ever seen,” as critic Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com said in her review. Despite that slam and similar barbs from Lemire’s colleagues, the family film is on course to be a moneymaker for Sony Pictures. It debuted at No. 2 with $24 million behind “Furious 7” this weekend — about $7 million higher than analysts and the studio had projected. All 38 reviews posted at aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes came down on the “rotten” side for the comedy sequel,

Warner Bros. Pictures released their new action/drama film, "Focus," into theaters this weekend, and all the reviews are now in from the top,major critics. It turns out that we got a mixed bag of opinions with this one as it got an overall 56 score out of a possible 100 across 40 reviews at the Metacritic.com site. The movie stars: Will Smith, Rodrigo Santoro, Gerald McRaney and Margot Robbie. We've supplied some blurbs from a couple of the critics,below. Richard Roeper from the Chicago Sun-Times, gave it a great 88 score, stating: "This is just sheer, escapist entertainment from start to finish." James Rocchi over at TheWrap, gave it a great 80 score, saying: "Like a perfect cocktail mixes the sour with the sweet and the bright with the boozy, Focus combines seamless, superbly-crafted filmmaking with the fizz and fun created by its leads." Christy Lemire from RogerEbert.com, gave it a 75 score,

CBS Films released their new comedy film, "The Duff," into theaters this weekend, and the top,major movie critics have turned in their reviews for it. It turns out that they were pretty mixed across the board, giving it a 55 score out of a possible 100 across 26 reviews at the Metacritic.com site. The film stars: Allison Janney, Romany Malco, Mae Whitman, Ken Jeong, Bianca Santos, Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, Skyler Samuels and Nick Eversman. We've supplied blurbs from a few of the critics, below. Inkoo Kang from TheWrap, gave it a great 90 score, stating: "There’s no doubt that The Duff is clever, funny and quotable enough to become this decade’s “Mean Girls.” Watch your back, Regina George — there’s a new queen bee in town." Christy Lemire over at RogerEbert.com, gave it a 75 score, saying: "Quickly and convincingly, it becomes its own funny and fast-paced phenomenon with its own modern-day charm.

Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies released their new animated comedy film, "SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water," into theaters this weekend, and all the reviews have been submitted by the top,major movie critics. It turns out that it resonated pretty well with most of them, getting an overall 62 score out of a possible 100 across 22 reviews at the Metacritic.com site. The film stars: Antonio Banderas, Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, and Douglas Lawrence. We've provided blurbs from a few of the critics, below. Alonso Duralde over at TheWrap, gave it a very nice 88 score, stating: "The jokes are consistently hilarious, with enough variety to tickle the funny bones of old salts and young fishies alike." Elizabeth Weitzman at the New York Daily News, gave it an 80 score, stating: " The spirit of the series remains true: cheerfully random jokes, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them references and, above all,

SpongeBob SquarePants lives in a pineapple under the sea—and he's a hit. But will audiences still love this porous yellow dude and his quirky BFFs when they leave Bikini Bottom behind and enter into our world?! It seems the answer is yes, because that's exactly what happens in TheSpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, and the critics are (for the most part) liking it even more than SpongeBob likes his Krabby Patties! RogerEbert.com's Christy Lemire admits she was "looking at this [the film] form the perspective of a grown woman who's reviewed films for a living for the past 16 years," but writes that kids "won't be nearly so analytical/uptight/whatever you want to call...

George Lucas. attempt at cornering the kid.s animated musical fairy tale market in Strange Magic was, unfortunately, a box-office tragedy for the legendary mind who gave us Star Wars. Its paltry performance financially was only compounded by the shellacking the film would receive from critics, generally dismissing the film as a bizarre, clunky mess of an affair. However, during a discussion of the film, one critic in particular, Ben Mankiewicz would evoke a comparison to "incest porn." Wha?...Huh? You have to give this a listen: So, just exactly How the idea of "incest porn" got juxtaposed to the children.s film Strange Magic you may wonder? Well, sitting down for a 3-person video review during web series, What The Flick?!, host Christy Lemire, along with Matt Atchity of Rotten Tomatoes, were also joined by the aforementioned Turner Classic Movie host and product of Hollywood royalty, Ben Mankiewicz. At

Universal Pictures released their new drama/thriller flick, "The Boy Next Door" into theaters today, and the top,major movie critics have delivered their reviews. It turns out that most of them just didn't take to it too well, giving it an overall 31 score out of a possible 100 across 27 reviews at the Metacritic.com site. The movie stars: Kristin Chenoweth, John Corbett, Jennifer Lopez and Ryan Guzman. We've added blurbs from a couple of the critics, below. Claudia Puig at USA Today, gave it a 63 score, stating: "Predictable and foolishly unsuspecting characters react in ways that make you want to shake them. But there's an undeniable sense of silly fun in this erotic thriller." Leah Greenblatt from Entertainment Weekly, gave it a 58 grade. He said: "Boy's premise reeks of stalker-movie mothballs, and it's too timid to fully dive into the high camp it hints at. Instead, this cookie just crumbles.

When renowned film critic, Roger Ebert, died last year, there was a huge outpouring of appreciation from film lovers around the world. He was an ambassador for cinema who introduced audiences to countless films they might have otherwise missed. Ebert and his long-time partner, Gene Siskel, started reviewing movies on their Chicago PBS affiliate back in 1975. The program was called Sneak Previews, and it laid the foundation for their hugely successful syndicated show, Siskel & Ebert, that was to follow a decade later… read the full article.

Monstervision: The Saturday Drive-In

I Got 88 Seconds and a Wookiee Ain’t One: Cinephilic Musings on the ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Teaser

I had a plan, I swear. In the days leading up to November 28th, a friend and I had negotiated the logistics of seeing a movie at one of the theatres listed on J.J.’s

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